Nashville Predators star winger Steven Stamkos has silenced doubters with an offensive surge this year. Now, the Preds face a difficult decision: trade Stamkos, or keep him and try to contend for a Stanley Cup with their current core?
Earlier this season, there were legitimate questions about the talents of Steven Stamkos of the Nashville Predators.
The longtime Tampa Bay Lightning star right winger produced only a single goal in his first 14 games with Nashville this year – and given that Stamkos is now 36 years old, it was understandable that some people were wondering how much he has left in the tank.
But from his 15th game on this season, Stamkos scored 36 goals in 60 games, and he’s now looking like a solid bet to hit the 40-goal plateau for the seventh time in his 18-year NHL career.
Stamkos has answered the question of how much he has left, and his production this season has been very beneficial to the Preds as they make a late push to secure a Stanley Cup wild card playoff berth.
But what is Stamkos’ greatest value to the Predators? From this writer’s perspective, it isn’t as a long-term member of the Preds. That’s because Nashville is at a crossroads of sorts when it comes to the team’s short-and long-term aspirations.
While Stamkos’ bounce-back season this year certainly justifies the 4-year, $8-million-per-season investment the Predators made in him in 2024, the Preds are at a point in their competitive cycle where they’re not legitimate Cup front-runners.
That means it’s in their best interests to approach Stamkos, who has a full no-move clause, regarding a trade to a team that can give him what could be his last, best shot at winning another championship. Although Nashville may yet make the playoffs this season, the Predators are likely going to be first-round fodder for the far-superior Colorado Avalanche if they do get into the post-season.
Thus, finding a new home for him in the off-season that will give him an easier road through the playoffs should be seriously appealing for Stamkos.
Steven Stamkos has scored 37 goals and 59 points in 75 games this season (Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images)That place may be Los Angeles, where the Kings are going to reload this summer in their push to at long last get beyond the first round of the post-season. Or maybe that team is the Florida Panthers, because you know Panthers GM Bill Zito isn’t going to take missing the playoffs this year sitting down – and wouldn’t it be like Florida to find a way to acquire a cross-state rival’s iconic player?
In any case, if Stamkos can score 37 goals on a sub-par Preds team, he should be able to produce more than that on a team with better players than Nashville. Stamkos can use his remaining productive NHL seasons on a team that won’t have to face the Avalanche, Dallas Stars and/or Minnesota Wild in the playoffs’ first two rounds, the way Nashville will, even if they are fortunate to be a playoff team.
Additionally, the Predators are in the midst of picking a replacement for GM Barry Trotz. Whoever takes his job this summer has to make an honest assessment of where Nashville is as an organization and start again with a clean slate.
If that person decides, as they ought to, that a long-term rebuild is the only way to acquire generational talent to form the core of a new era in Tennessee, that will mean a prolonged stretch of pain for the franchise. Why would Stamkos want to hang his hat on a team that is rebuilding? It doesn’t make sense.
If the Preds play it the right way, trading Stamkos could give them a bundle of high-end draft picks and/or prospects, and those are two things the Predators could use more of right now. Stamkos joined Nashville with the best intentions, but taking a realistic look at where the Preds are almost certainly only leads to one conclusion for him – and that’s that his remaining NHL days are better spent with a new employer.
In an ideal world, Stamkos’ acquisition would’ve spearheaded a new era for the Predators. But despite his recent scoring renaissance, it feels like the Preds are headed for a Mushy Middle finish, too bad to make the playoffs, and not bad enough to get a top draft pick.
Dealing Stamkos would lead to better days for the Predators in the long term, so it’s in every party’s best interests that a Stamkos trade out of Nashville takes place this summer.
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